This course is a survey of ancient classical drama and the societies that
produced it. The course will examine the major plays of the tragedians
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca, as well as major plays of the
comic playwrights Aristophanes, Menander, and Plautus. Among the
topics considered will be: the tragic and comic festivals, the nature of
the ancient theaters and ancient theatrical production techniques,
religion and drama, women and tragedy, tragic and comic heroism, democracy
and drams, myth and tragedy, and the legacy of classical drama in the
modern world. There will be three assigned papers.
Tests:
R. Fagles, trans., Aeschylus: The Oresteia (1977)
R. Fagles, trans., Sophocles: the Three Theban Plays (1982)
M. Hadas, trans., Ten Plays: Euripides (1981)
W. Arrowsmith, et al., trans., Four Plays by Aristophanes (1994)
N. Miller, trans., Menander: Plays and Fragments (1987)
E. Segal, trans., Plautus: Four Comedies (1996)
E.F. Watling, trans., Seneca: Four Tragedies and Octavia (1966)